NATIONAL HOT CHOCOLATE DAY UPDATES

Boy, Howdy - Especially Here In Chicago!

-The White House announced yesterday that they are hoping to declare the national COVID health emergency over in May. What that would mean, among other things, is that all federal mandates involving masking and vaccinations would end (though private companies could continue to ask for such limitations) and that test kits and vaccines would potentially need to be covered by private insurance. This comes as the CDC is exploring a recommendation of a yearly vaccine to cover all new variants, as most health experts now believe COVID will become a part of the regular vaccine regimen for those who accept science as being valid and real. #COVIDIsNotOver

-So why has Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg reversed course and now convened a grand jury to explore a potential criminal indictment of Ex-President Trump’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels over their one night stand? Most legal experts believe new testimony has emerged, likely from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker (it’s who he is and what he does!) and possibly former Trump CFO Alan Weisselberg (as part of a plea deal), as well as noting Trump’s apparent new political weakness (as NBC reports Trump’s 2024 fundraising is nowhere near 2016 or 2020 levels). The fact that witnesses are being called into the court may be a sign that the case, which thus far has seen former Trump attorney Michael Cohen serve jail time, may be more advanced – and also comes as a book by a former prosecutor in that office is set to be released next week discussing why charges for this and possibly other investigations have yet to result in one criminal indictment against Trump yet.

-For his part, the always chivalrous and gallant Trump insists that anything that happened is beyond the statutes of limitations (apparently Bragg believes otherwise) and charmingly called Daniels “horse face” (without denying that it happened, nor Daniels’ description of his less-than-normally-sized equipment in a book she published) while also claiming Cohen and Cohen alone is responsible for the payout (never mind the signature on the check). Stay tuned!

-Speaking of investigations, the newly-formed House Oversight Committee’s battle lines are being drawn as the first wave of hearings is prepared. On MEET THE PRESS, new Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer (HunteR!, KY) ignored calls for investigations of anything involving Trump and promised that his committee will find something in the Biden family to investigate (oddly claiming that the Biden family is the most corrupt family ever to occupy the Presidency) (ah …), while on the Democratic side Minority Chair Rep. Jamie Raskin (R-MD) has named UltraMAGA nemesis Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Squad, NY) as the number two Democrat on the Committee.

-This Committee hearings may very well become appointment TV, with UltraMAGA superstars and accused insurrectionists Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Scott Perry, and Lauren Boebert (among others) facing off against Democrats that include Constitutional scholar Raskin, the aforementioned AOC, fellow Squad member Cori Bush, former impeachment prosecutor turned Representative Dan Goldman, and the first Gen Z member of Congress, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) as witness are being called. Clear your DVRs and cloud accounts!

-And speaking of committee assignments, THIS JUST IN: Rep. “George Santos” (“R,” “NY”) has announced he will recuse himself from his committee assignments as ethics issues and a possible Federal Election Commission investigation into his fundraising continues.

-While an attack on at least one drone manufacturing plant in Iran has been confirmed over the weekend, there were other reports from Ukrainian sources that there were multiple military installations and industrial sites that may have been attacked by missiles and fighters out of Israel. The reports have not been verified either by the Israeli government or media outlets, but if true it both brings Israel back into an always-volatile Middle East and also could signal a problem for Russia, as its sustained attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian targets have been carried out with Irani drones – and continued reports of depleted munitions loom over their invasion, now nearly one year old.

-Slava Ukraini!

-To close, add Pink Floyd to the list of Who Got Woke Now?! Earlier in the month, the Floyd announced a 50^thanniversary release of their seminal album THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, and with it a logo with a rainbow inside a number 50 – a clear reference to the prism on the cover of the album. But, NOT TO RIGHT-WING SOCIAL MEDIA! THEY see the rainbow as Pink Floyd bowing down to the woke radical repressive evil LGBTQI community and therefore worthy of a boycott (as if a typical Trumper can even begin to understand that album). It even went so far that a parody report that claimed FL Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the album as part of his anti-trans crusade he is using to become a 2024 Presidential favorite was believed by both social media users on the left and the right. DeSantis has not banned the LP (yet). The lunatics are indeed on the grass and in the hall …

-On this date in 1950, America detonated its first hydrogen bomb. On this date in 1958, America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, was launched into orbit. On this date in 1968, North Vietnamese forces attacked the American Embassy in Hanoi as part of the Tet Offensive. And on this date in 2020, Great Britain formally left the European Union.

-Happy Birthday to Franz Schubert, Tour de France founder Henri Desgrange, Zane Grey, Eddie Cantor, Tallulah Bankhead, Don Hutson, Gary Moore, Jackie Robinson, Carol Channing, Mario Lanza, Norman Mailer, Benjamin Hooks, Jean Simmons, Ernie Banks, Philip Glass, Suzanne Pleshette, Stuart Margolin, Jessica Walter, Rep. Richard Gephardt, Jonathan Banks, Terry Kath, Nolan Ryan, Harry Wayne “KC” Casey, Phil Manzanera, John Lydon, Kelly Lynch, Fat Mike, Doug Pederson, Minnie Driver, Portia deRossi, Kerry Washington, Justin Timberlake, and Marcus Mumford.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Guy Fawkes, Prv. Eddie Slovik, FM radio inventor Edwin Armstrong, A.A. Milne, Meher Baba, Samuel Goldwyn, Barbara Cowsill, and Molly Ivins.

-Feed the Worms: weirdo Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt entered Earth on this date.